Stand
by Cotillon
Summary: Optimism was a downfall. Nobody predicted that a smallest thing like heart of a young boy can completely mess up the world. What would happen if battle with Sachiel went wrong in so many ways. AU, OOC Rated M for Gore and Language!


**Please don´t even try to tell me how this chapter is long, I originally planed to make a one-shot but sudden outburst of inspiration of came halfway, so…. enjoy if you can. I plan to make this a pretty long one, so don´t be surprised if the size expands… I plan to finish this within 20 chapters, though I am also considering making it shorter… dunno… Now read and be happy :***

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: **I don´t own anything!

* * *

**Stand**

* * *

**CHAPTER 1: Not Knowing**

* * *

Someone said that pessimism was the one true wisdom, power to be prepared for anything. Always expect the worse but be prepared to step into the endless circle of paranoia and despair. Or so they said…

Old fools were selfish. Gendo Ikari, Keel Lorenz and other mortals dwelled in the promises of the Dead Sea Scrolls, man written jokes. If they planned it accordingly things might have been different, though selfish as they were, every one of them had their own plans for godhood. If they spent so much time to keep other side in closet they might have noticed that the smallest things can ruin the biggest schemes. Like the fragile heart of one teenage boy…

Now I bleed, whole world is bleeding.

But I still breathe…

* * *

Entering the gloomy room, grey haired boy peered across the empty never-ending space. Now that everything was set the first council of the new age commenced. Images of 12 large stone monoliths with the written blood red letters "SEELE" appeared. As they formed around the boy, blood red SOUND ONLY displayed on the first one.

"What news do you bring us, Tabris?" Spoke the first monolith, also known as Keel Lorenz the chairman of the instrumentality committee. Kaworu recognized his guardian's voice and bowed humbly.

"First of my brothers has descended from Eden, sir." Young angel replied with a smile as he shifted his gaze to first moonlight alone.

"Excellent. How long do we wait for his arrival?"

"I believe that Sachiel is headed to Tokyo 3, probably day and half, sir."

"Excellent," Came a pleased voice from SELLE 09. "Scenario is resolving as we predicted."

"Is there no indication that the angel will turn on the original Adam." Spoke SEELE 04 with a strong Russian accent.

"There is no indication; in this world Sachiel is too young to distinguish the real one from Lilith." Grey haired boy replied still smiling. "However, I am not sure if I can guide the others as easy as him."

"There will be no need for that. We can preclude the upcoming difficulties on our own, but I still admire your devotion young man. You held your promise and for that this committee is forever in your debt," Announced SELLE 01. Kaworu was tingled as his guardian called him "man", though he doubted he ever meant it as a joke.

Kaworu nodded. "Thank you, sir."

"But remember your purpose on this world, Tabris. If everything goes well, and I know it will, we will fulfill your wish."

Kaworu bowed humbly sensing a small disturbance in the chairman's voice.

"_You know, or you hope, old man_…" He thought as he returned to his usual posture with an elusive smirk.

"Now that everything has successfully started we are to attend more private matters, if you will excuse us, Tabris." said SELLE 01 to a grey haired boy who shoved his arms in pockets.

"Of course, sir." Responded Kaworu as he disappeared from the gloomy space.

* * *

Gendo Ikari was now a man who liked surprises, especially not this kinds of surprises, "Kozo, what do you mean by he fell in cardiac coma?" He spoke in almost paranoid laud voice that was not used in public. It completely drifted from his usual calm and cold voice, but this was a situation they never dreamed could happen.

Sub-commander Fuyutsuki was taken aback by the sudden outburst from his former student, but this was a delicate matter. "It was reported yesterday, apparently his heart is weak and he didn´t receive an appropriate diet."

"You are trying to say that that moron is incapable of feeding my son?" Gendo said in very angered tone, now making his frustration completely obvious. Fuyutsuki hardly recalled Gendo calling Shinji "his son", it hardly ever happened but he came to believe that bastard still had a bit of affection for the boy. He also knew that Gendo left Shinji with NERV employer that pretended to be his uncle; his purpose was to observe the boy from young age and fill them with reports. He made a mental note to fire that man.

"It appears so…" He replied, also uneasy with the sudden disturbance of their plans.

Gendo broke his normal "hands over mouth" position, placed both of his hands on his black leather chair and rolled in his chair to face his right hand man. "Where is he now?"

Fuyutsuki sighted. "He is already transported to a local hospital in Tokyo 3; I assumed that it was still inappropriate to bring him to NERV, minding that he is still not an official pilot."

"Yes, you are right…" Gendo said as he looked at some financial paperwork that he brought out second before his former professor entered the room.

"I sent all medical personal of NERV to tend him, including Dr. Akagi, they will make transplantation soon… but they say that he won´t wake up on time…"

"…"

There was a long silence…

Sub-commander Fuyutsuki and Commander Gendo Ikari wondered off in thoughts; none of them seemed to think of a way to bring Shinji back on his feet, nor to make him pilot if they did. After all they had a clear pattern of events that was sure to make the boy pilot, and now it was lost for good. None of them liked it, it was almost as some divine force purposely messed their plans. (That´s me btw)

Fuyutsuki frowned, nothing good came to him mind, he doubted that his former student did any better, "Gendo, could Rei pilot in his stead?"

Gendo slowly opened a drawer and pulled off some papers that he received from Doctor Akagi, few of them labeled Rei. "No, she would die in matter of seconds in this state…"

"Do you think we can replace her in time?" Fuyutsuki asked, though he doubted it. It was well known among them that Rei was injured so that Shinji would take sympathy and pilot in her stead, he despised that cruel act but now it hardly mattered, it was not happening.

"Also thought about it … I think that it is not possible in this short time, and even if it was we are not sure if she could efficiently pilot with memory loss."

Fuyutsuki didn´t like what he was hearing but he had his doubts about everything. "So we basically don´t know what to do?"

"I´m not sure… even if we find a new pilot with Marduk system I doubt that we could prepare him in time, or even get his acceptance," He frowned. "Yui won´t help anyone besides Shinji, there is high chance that she may not accept anyone…"

"I agree, only a skillful pilot can synchronize with non related souls of other Evangelions." After he finished a sudden idea came. "What about a German girl?"

"You mean pilot of Unit 02, Second Child?"

"Yes, Soryus girl. Is there any why that we can transport her with her Evangelion?"

"Not possible, there is no way that we can transport an Evangelion in only 1 day… no transport in existence is capable of that. Besides, we mustn´t let SEELE know of any of this, they would know something is off if we moved Unit 02." Gendo said in his usually calm voice, though he was still upset with the chain of events.

"I agree, though I still believe that that girl is our best chance…"

"True… demand for her immediate transport, send major Katsuragi to welcome her, I believe they know each other from before. It might as well be useful to ease her stress." Gendo responded. He felt much calmer that they came up with substitution plan, though it was hardly the biggest problem that occurred. How will it affect instrumentality? How will he reach his beloved wife?

Sub-commander Fuyutsuki was on his leave before Gendo interrupted him. "Kozo, do you think this will interfere with the Instrumentality project… and Yui?"

Fuyutsuki also thought about it. "I don´t know… it´s possible. I believe that it may pass if Second Child beats the angel, and of course if we manage to cover it all up and deport her back until her scheduled arrival…"

"Possible… I know we planned to interfere at some point but now… what you said is true, we don´t know…"

Sub-commander Fuyutsuki nodded and turned his back to the commander. "We can only hope now… we played with fire for a long time Gendo… I hope we won´t get lost in our own flames…"

Gendo also nodded. "Dismissed"

And with that Fuyutsuki left Gendos gloomy office, leaving the man to stare at his own company's logo printed on his wall. He was recalling all the experiments and schemes he and his loyal right hand man did, all of their filth may indeed be in vain.

"_All is right with the world_…" Gendo thought as he sighted.

* * *

Asuka was boarded on a private plane that moved too fast even for her liking. Right beside her was her guardian Ryouji Kaji that was appointed to escort her to Tokyo 3. Asuka was dying for a day when she could show off with all she learned for the past 10 years; even better part was that Kaji told her that he would be watching.

The fact that she was leaving her Unit 02 was infuriating her, and god knows how much she resisted and shouted at the people at NERV branch at Germany. She insisted to bring him aboard, but they told her that it was not an option. They weren't able to calm her down until they said that other pilot would replace her, upon hearing that she instantly agreed.

"_It won´t be that fucking bad, just another fucking toy to play with. If it isn´t red or as fabulous as mine I will seriously kill someone_." She thought as she leaned on her silk seat. She started to clench her fists in frustration as she reminded herself that she would board some other Evangelion.

"What´s up with you, kiddo? Feeling nervous?" Kaji asked provokingly. He was familiar with Asuka so he knew what was bothering her, he was practically the closest thing she had for a dad but he still enjoyed to tease her childishly. Even if she wasn´t afraid for herself, he was.

"WHAHT! ME, afraid? You must be joking; I trained my whole life to bash some Angel skulls." Asuka proclaimed proudly, it bothered her how Kaji always addressed her as some lousy kid. She couldn´t comprehend the fact that he didn´t see her as the woman she is. One way or another she would prove herself to him.

"Glad you are feeling well; you know that jet lags can really be pain in the ass." Kaji pointed as he placed both of his arms behind his head and leaned to his chair.

"It doesn´t bother the mighty Asuka Langely Soryu!" She proclaimed smiling at the man on her right. Kaji just sighted, she had no idea how childish she sounded sometimes. "_Though if she was four years older_…" He thought but soon neglected it instantly.

"I´m sure it doesn´t," He returned smiling. "And by the way you will meet my old friend when we arrive."

"Oh really, when?" She responded in passive tone, like she did not care at all.

"Probably when we arrive, she is supposed to wait for us at the airport."

Asukas nerve jumped. "What do you mean, _she_?"

"My old friend Misato, you might know her from before." The man responded caching her deadly stare, though it hardly bothered him. He could predict that Asuka would jump at that; he did know her the best.

"Yes I know that _tramp, _I met her in Germany. She looked like a complete whore." Asuka spat hoping that Kaji would get what she was trying to say. He did, however he didn´t agree, after all he and Misato had a thing before. He knew that messing with jealous Asuka was a bigger pain in the ass than any Angel could be, so he just nodded. Though he had to admit teasing her was priceless.

Girl smiled satisfied and continued with occasional glaring at the man. When she looked at him he seemed to be somewhere else, she started to fear that he was thinking of Misato. If she remembered correctly Misato was far more "advanced" in the proportions section, she did grew over the years but Kaji hardy noticed, it made her mad.

She was formulating a plan to get him for a long time; she simply decided to throw herself at him in the best occasion. In her opinion no man alive would decline that offer, if needed, she would even show him her breasts, in her mind it was a winning card that would fail. She was sure that she knows how all men worked; to her it was a simple problem. Though it was still a plan in motion, she would wait for a time being, and she thought that there would be no way of rejection if he saw her in action in Evangelion.

One way or another she was certain that he would fall for her. She was sick being threaded like a child, even though she was best Evangelion pilot. He would make her woman and it was all that mattered to her. Even though she went to college, she had no knowledge or experience of sex. To her Kaji looked like someone who would probably give her a wild fuck that she always fantasized about, it was only a matter of time…

* * *

Hours later they finally arrived at the Tokyo 2 airport.

"Feels good to be back." Said Kaji, he started to stretch after he left the plane. Asuka just followed behind; to her it looked nothing like Germany. Without giving much though she decided that this place sucked.

"What do we have here?" Came a sudden female voice. Both turned to look at the beautiful purple haired woman in the late twenties. "Look at you two; I presume this is a mighty Asuka, you´ve grown."

Asuka nodded proudly as she crossed her arms, giving the woman a deadly glare.

"Major Misato Katsuragi!" said Kaji as he moved to her looking as he was going to hug her. Noticing that, Misato shoved him back with her right hand, thing that she usually did.

"In your dreams, Kaji." She mocked with her tongue out, though she couldn't help not to smile. She wouldn't admit it but she missed him. Asuka was pretty annoyed that she used his first name so casually.

"Oh, how did you know that I dream of you?" Kaji replied with the devilish smirk. To that Misatos whole face turned red, Asuka was even worse.

Misato was about to say something in her defense when something interrupted.

"I AM HERE, DID I COME HERE TO KILL ANGELS OR LOOK AT YOU TWO TALKING!" Asuka shouted harshly at both of them. They were both shaken by her sudden outburst, mostly Misato who was not accustomed to it. They almost completely forgot that they had to hurry.

"She did not change at all…" thought Misato as she took some of their luggage. It was mostly few bags because they would only stay for a day or two.

Misato bowed. "I´m sorry, I forgot. Please take your bags and follow me." That left Asuka satisfied for a while; sooner or later she would have to get rid of this woman.

Kaji just remembered something. "Don´t tell me you are driving?" Kaji asked in cool tone, but deeply paranoid as anyone who ever entered Misatos death machine would be. He regretted the day he taught her how to drive, or at least he tried.

"Problem?" Misato asked rising an eyebrow.

"No… nothing." He replied feeling utterly defeated. That woman possessed his kryptonite and there was nothing he could ever do about it.

"Hurry up for fuck sake, I will seriously _hurt_ someone if battle starts before I´m prepared." Asuka shouted at Misato.

"_That girl has a potty mouth_…" Misato thought as she rolled her eyes.

Kaji got the situation so he tried to intervene between two women. "Take it easy kiddo."

"Don´t call me _kiddo_." she said as she ran to the only car that was in sight. Two adults just looked at each other and sighted.

Misato was the first to break the short silence. "Well, I see she grew to be quite…energetic."

"You have no idea… though she reminds me of you sometimes." Kaji replied giving her a silly smile.

"What?! I was nothing like that!" Misato shouted bitterly.

"True... "he replied, but then silently whispered." …sometimes"

"I heard that Kaji!" Misato yelled harshly, to that Kaji just rubbed the back of his head making yet another silly smile. If the child wasn´t looking at them she would probably also hit him or at least pull his ear, it was the most efficient way to silence the unshaved stud.

They both reached the car where Asuka was already waiting impatiently stomping on the ground with her foot in obvious annoyance. Misato entered the driver's seat thinking that she was nothing like this fused redhead. Kaji reached to the other front seat but was overrun by Asuka who claimed it for herself. There was no way that she would let him sit near Misato. Kaji just frowned at went at the back seats, there was nothing he could do.

"We will be in Tokyo 3 in few minutes, so use your seatbelts." Misato accounted as she shoved the key into the ignition.

"Bullshit, it sounds impossible even to me!" Asuka said bitterly, glaring daggers at the woman on her left. Misato just smiled at that finally turning her steamroller.

Kaji just shrugged from behind, he came closer behind her seat and whispered. "Use the seatbelts, I´m dead serious…"

* * *

After a pretty wild ride they drove into Tokyo 3. Misato and Asuka managed to talk for a while, while Kaji was pretending to ignore them both. It was also a very laud ride.

"Say Misato, why did they send me here for only few days if Angels are coming _here_?" Auka asked curiously, Kaji of course had no idea so she thought that the purple haired airhead might know something more.

Misato supposed she should keep this a secret, but there was no harm in telling her, or so she thought. "You see pilot of Unit 01, The Third Child was hospitalized so we-"

"-WAIT, you are trying to say that I´m fucking replacement? Huh?" Asuka yelled harshly at the woman. Misato now realized how things worked around the redhead, girl was witty if anything.

Misato tried to correct herself with something that Asuka would believe but she never seemed to stop with babbling. "Me? I am the best _fucking_ Evangelion pilot in the world AND I am fucking replacement for some hospitalized lumphead, NO fucking way! I have a collage degree for fuck sake"

Nobody in the car even noticed that angel alarm was on for few minutes.

"Asuka dear… you see- WATCH OUT!" she yelled as she pressed the pedal with all her might and avoided the enormous black foot that almost crushed their existences. Second more and it might have but now its attention drifted to all the UN forces that were constantly bombarding him with all they had.

"HOW THE FUCK DID THAT MOSTER CAME ON US WITHOUT ANYONE NOTICING." Shouted Misato, she sped up to NERV base. Skull faced monster continued to pummel on the UN forces as they drew out of his reach.

Kaji had no idea if he was more scared of her maniacal driving or the fact that 90 foot large behemoth was behind their backs. "I believe it descended from the skies…" Said Kaji, not even sure himself.

"You mean that the fuckers can fly. Why can´t my unit fly, it´s not fair." She said as she crossed her hands in disbelief. Both of adults were amazed by the girl's brain mechanics. Even if she did go to collage she was not showing it. Kaji knew that girl's intelligence was way above his own but the way that hormones influenced her brain maid her no better than ten year old.

"Hold on for a while, this is going to be a wild ride…"

* * *

Sachiel turned around to see a sky full of objects that he was not familiar with. All the plains opened fire and ground forces launched everything they had and continued to fire from the submachines, each placed had four wings armed to the teeth. With more than 30 plains it made a rain of bullets and missiles; however their efforts were in vain. The moment it seemed they would hit him a huge orange field formed and covered all sides of the Angel. All the explosives went off and bullets simply ceased to exist the moment they touched it. There was not even a scratch on the angel.

"_Creations of Lilim_..."

Sachiel was getting irritated with the humans, couldn´t they just understand that he was looking for the creator. Couldn´t they just understand that everything that was made from Adam should return to Adam, everything make of Adam MUST return to Adam.

New volley of missiles emerged from the now turning plains, once again there were so many that they scattered the shadows all around Tokyo 3. Missiles were also coming from ground forces and battleships as well; almost all of JSSDF and UNs forces were now firing at the behemoth standing in the middle of the city.

The moment all the missiles hit a huge explosion hid the giant, now completely covered in missiles smoke there was no way for them to see the result, or even dodge.

A purple beam flew from the smoke leaving the hole in the smoke it passed through. The beam stroked the center of the ground forces and swashed them all around forming a giant purple cross. The beam ignited all the ground vehicles and immolated all ground troops, who were now running helplessly. Sachiel felt the disappearances of AT-fields of running black spots that seemed to be on fire, it meant it was good.

"_Lilim don´t bother if on fire_…" He thought as he formed a giant purple spear in his right hand. Now with his full charged AT-field he ascended into the skies and started to swipe the planes one by one, while continuing to incinerate the ground forces with his beams. Plains that he stroke either exploded in air or crashed into the buildings from the force and pressure of the swipe, which was godlike.

Lilims on fire fascinated young Sachiel, if he pressed them with his foot LCL fluids would stain his feet, and if they burned they would not.

Saciel got angrier at the little nuisances that poked his AT-field; he extended his arm and channeled a large purple sphere. He took it with both of his arms and shoved it into the skies, creating a massive explosion that not eradicated every flying unit but also made a complete mess of southern Tokyo 3. Buildings started to fall from every directions, Sachiel could now see a huge masses of Lilims running everywhere.

"_Now I step on noisy little Lilim that hide Adam_."

But as he stood on a firm ground he noticed that something was dropping from the skies right above him. As he looked up he noticed that the large object was just few meters from him. Second later N2 mine exploded right before face, if he didn´t form his AT-field he might even got killed. The pain from the burning was making him even angrier, he tried to struggle but found himself immobile for the time. He tried to move his arms but the pain was too great, if he could scream he would, but not from pain. Instead he decided to wait for his body to regenerate so he could punish little Lilim and find Adam.

As his old face became useless the new skull form with glowing red eyes began to sprout. "_Lilim… I hate you_…"

* * *

"Thank god you are here," Shouted Dr. Ritsuko as she rushed before the three men party. "What took you so damn long?"

"There was a certain 90 feet tall Angel in our way, now hurry we have a Second Child." Misato gasped still sweaty from all the running they did in NERVs halls.

"Good to meat you Asuka, and you too Kaji," She greeted nodding, "now go behind this doors, NERV technicians will help you board the Evangelion, I won´t be coming with you."

"Where to Rits-chan I thought you would love to see your work in action?" Kaji asked obviously confused.

"I was given a task to oversee the Third Child, Shinji Ikari if things go- umm… direct order from the commander…" She said as she greeted them and rushed down the dark hallways leaving the three of them on their own.

"_Shinji Ikari…huh…what´s so special about him, sounds like an idiot._" thought Asuka feeling left out as no one gave her much attention. She was supposed to be a star of this fight and everyone seemed to brainlessly wonder around not giving much regards to her presence.

Soon after Dr. Ritsuko was gone from sight they broke into a sprint across the hallways, they constantly bumped into NERV personnel that were on some sort of bull rush. Each and every single one of them seemed to completely ignore them and run in their own way. The laud sound of sirens was piercing everyone's eardrums and it annoyed them gravely.

After a few moments they finally found themselves in the Evangelion cargo, as soon as they set foot into the giant open space the lights popped on.

"Major is this the Second Child." Came a voice from the intercom, Misato instantly recognized the cold and calm voice of the Commander Ikair.

"Yes Commander, we just entered the Evangelion dock." Misato replied at the air. Ground started to shake more violently, something was on the move.

"Good, prepare for launch. We don´t have much time left."

"Understood." Misato turned to Asuka who was staring at the face of the purple giant.

Even though this was supposed to be her first battle she was disgusted by the fact that she would pilot this hideous purple freak instead of her beautiful red giant. "I don´t like it… fuck this I´m not doing it…"

Everyone in the command centre seemed to halt. "What do you mean by I´m not doing it?" Misato asked in very cold tone. God knows that her fuse was already running low.

"I said that I don´t like this piece of trash, someone else can do it. "

Misato was almost speechless with the girl but she decided to plead. "There is no one else… Asuka please…"

Now the whole command center was starting at the redhead girl, everyone showing disbelief on their faces.

Asuka was irritated; piloting that monster was the last thing she wanted. She always got what she wanted one way or another. "NO! There is no way that-"

Misato bowed her head. "-Listen," she interrupted in very bitter voice, even Kaji stepped back a bit. "Do you know that probably 1000 people died while we are having thins little change of heart moments… do you even CARE FOR ANY OF THAT?"

Asuka was bit taken aback by that, it was true she never even once considered that the people were actually dying. "But there must-"

"There is no one else…" Misato returned with a lot weaker voice, everyone that watched could easily think that she was even crying. "Why did you even come here?"

Asuka was shaken. "I-I came to-"

"Show of that pretty ass, right?" Misato interrupted with the voice that gave off a big dose of loathing.

"NO! That-"

"-Oh stop with the bullshit!" Misato again interrupted. "Did you come here to kill that monster or show off? What is it? Choose one or the other, I can easily order an evacuation!"

Now that really shook Asuka. She bowed her head thinking of why she even came here; of course it really was to show off and to make Kaji fall for her, there was no denying it. But for the sake of her pride she could never admit that, even though she was disgusted by the fact that she would ride that ugly purple trash. There was no going back now, she decided that she must look good in front of everyone; it was for her own sake. Little did she know that everyone and even Kaji were looking at her as she was the smallest child they ever saw.

"Fine, I will pilot that _trash_." She shouted pointing at the Unit 01. That was not the answer everyone expected, they all secretly hoped that they would evacuate and run as far as possible from this accursed place. Misato and Kaji were relieved that she did choose to pilot.

"Then hurry up…" Misato said in commanding voice pointing at the now open entry plug of Evangelion Unit 02.

Asuka was still infuriated with the Major but for now she would swallow her pride. "Y-Yes Major…"

* * *

After a short synchronization sequence Asuka was in the cockpit of Unit 01 climbing to Tokyo 3 with the Gate 3.

"How is she doing?" Misato asked Lieutenant Maya Ibuki who was operative of the mission instead of Ritsuko.

The young woman sighted. "Poorly, she can barely synchronize at depth 1.4. Even though she synchronized at 33.2% she will hardly move. I hardly doubt that she could even form a stable AT-field."

Misato was starting to worry; if the girl died it was her responsibility. She practically forced her to do it, more like pushed but it was still the same thing to her. She opened the connection intercom with Asuka. "How are you holding?"

Asuka frowned in frustration, as she was constantly hitting the panel with her fist. "Shitty, this place smells different than my Unit 02. Generally it feels like shit, this toy was not meant for someone as great as me!"

"Just try to relax O.K.?"

"It´s not fucking O.K., this crap is hardly an excuse for a real Evangelion like mine."

Misato just sighted, "Well good luck, we are all cheering for you." She really wanted to mean it but her voice was just not up to it.

"I don´t need it!" Replied Asuka bitterly.

"_The fuck do they know. I can do this by myself, I was born to do this and I don´t need anyone's help_. _Now focus Asuka, you can synchronize with this pile of shit_."

Next moment she was on the surface directly before the 3rd Angel. First thing that she did was grabbing her stomach trying not to vomit at the sight of Angel stepping on the buildings and sending all unlucky passengers to the other side. Gore was all over the burning town of Tokyo 3, the city that now fully depended on her. She had enough when the Angel violently stomped on the pack of running humans, spraying their multicolored guts on all nearby objects.

"Pick on someone your own size _fucker_!" She roared as she leashed in the open.

Sachiel took a notice of her the moment she appeared, at first he thought that Adam was here to greet him but then he realized that it was not him. He could even sense the two AT-fields, which meant that Lilim was inside of the Adam creature.

"_What is it, same as metal Lilim creations, but this from Adam and human AT-field_? _Lilim made of Adam or worse maybe even... It is abomination… I hate you LILIM! Give Adam back to Eden!"_

Sachiel was now completely mad, he could forgive the insolence and the N2 mine, but to him this was unforgivable. Noticing that giant was much slower than himself he took the time until he reached him to form an energy spear in his right hand.

"Move you fucking crap," Asuka spat in the cockpit. She leaned on the side to attempt to make a blow to his core but was intercepted by a sudden movement from the Angel.

The moment she leaned, Sachiel pulled on the other side destroying a few buildings and forming a large spear that flew from his head right at her. She barely managed to avoid it, as she spun on the side she took a stance and shoved herself at him. Now off guard Sachiel received a blow at his bone rib that was sprouting from his chest, but It didn´t even hurt him. He decided that it was time to get serious.

Sachiel deployed his AT-field right in front of a purple giant as slammed it into him as hard as he could, Asuka not being able to do much to prevent it found herself sinking into complex of buildings. She screamed in pain as the building tops crushed behind her back. She started to get up but found moving to be even harder.

Suddenly Misatos face appeared before her. "Asuka calm down, it´s not you who is hurt, concentrate. You have-"

"SHUT UP! I don´t want to see your face. I can do this by MYSELF. I trained my whole fucking life for this. Just leave me alone!" She shouted as she disconnected from the panel with Misatos face.

Then Asuka continued to shout at Unit 01. "Move you piece of sit! You are fucking useless piece of trash. You should listen to my every command you damn _puppet_. You are making me look bad in front of everyone, now move for fuck sake!"

But Unit 01 did not respond, she suddenly felt that she was rising, but not by herself, something was pulling her. She also noticed that she didn´t feel anything as she was no longer connected with the Eva. As soon as she could get the view of horizon she saw that the Angel was holding her neck and holding a purple spear in other. She tried to move her arm to stop him but was too late; as she reached Sachiel slammed the spear right into the chest of Unit 01. She screamed.

Asuka didn´t felt that much pain from the impact. It was unclear to her until she found out that she was not able to move Eva at all, no matter what command she gave it made no response. Angel showed her at the ground and stood before her. Now without any way of fighting the Angel Asuka started to panic, insides of the cockpit changed back to LCL tank and red EMERGENCY hexes appeared all over her intercom. She started to scream in agony as the angel started to shove his spear in the Unit 01 over, and over, and over…

* * *

"We have lost…" mumbled Fuyutsuki.

Gendo frowned in frustration. "Agree; order an immediate evacuation of all personnel and city. We are leaving for Berlin NERV branch in this instance."

"Are you sure Gendo, we are leaving everything behind-"

"-I know…Don't you see Kozo!" He returned bitterly as he already embraced the fact. "There is nothing for us here, get Rei and Shinji to a transporter helicopters as fast as you can, that is our top priority for now."

"What about the Second Child?" Sub-commander asked already knowing the answer to that question.

"Leave her, she will buy us some time before we escape, N2 self destruction system in Central Dogma will take care of the Angel."

"And the whole city!" Retorted Fuyutsuki, though he realized there is not much to it, there could still be another possibility.

"There is no other way professor, execute the commands, we will tend to other matters later… now evacuation is out top priority! And that is an order!"

Without much thinking Fuyutsuki saluted and rushed to the control room to order an immediate evacuation.

* * *

"Pilot has lost the connection with the Unit 02, production of AT- field no longer possible." Came a female voice from command center.

"Fuck that, can she even move?!" Shouted Misato. She was nervous and so was Kaji, Asuka was losing and there was nothing they could do but to watch helplessly.

"Come on kiddo, come on…" Kaji mumbled to his chin as he observed the screen. Angel was on top of Unit 01, desecrating her chest plates and stabbing all the organic bits in most cruel bestial ways. Unit 01 was not even fighting back.

Misato had enough. If she left Asuka fight for minute more she would die. It was only a matter of time before Angel reached her entry plug. "Eject the entry plug, it's over!"

Maya nodded and typed the command but nothing happened. "Major, it´s not responding!"

"What… DO SOMETHING!" Misato shouted back with teary eyes. "I don´t care how just get her out!"

Kaji was almost in post hysteria himself, ground was shaking violently and whole facility seemed to collapse in any minute, not to mention that Asuka was there screaming for her life. He broke his trance and tried to put his arm on major's shoulder to calm her down; he hated to see Misato like this.

She showed his hand in frustration, though she felt really weak and could use something to lean on. "Can we do anything?" She screamed at the command centre.

Maya wanted to tell her that she could, but there was nothing they could do. All the communications with the pilot were off. "I´m afraid not we-"

"-We evacuate!" interrupted Fuyutsuki, who just entered the command center. "All personnel are ordered to go to evacuation docks."

"WHAT?!" shouted Misato. "S-Sir, what about Asuka, we can´t just leave-"

"-Major, It´s a direct order from the Commander, either you go or you stay here and die with her." Retorted Fuyutsuki also disgusted with the fact that they were leaving a 14 year old kid to die by the hands of an Angel. With that he just turned and went to evacuation decks himself.

Misato stood her with her head bowed, evacuation alarm went off and everyone left their posts immediately. She stood stiff as everyone rushed past her obviously not caring about the pilot at all. It was only her who aberrantly gave a fuck about Asukas well-being. Second later gentle hand touched her back.

"Go, save yourself." Kaji whispered gently.

"No I can´t lea-"

"-GO! I am going out there!" Kaji interrupted as he walked past her.

"Y-You c-can´t… you will-"

"Die!" A small silence devoured the now empty command centre." I don´t care, Misato that girl is like a daughter to me, she can be a bit of a bitch at times but I still love that kid. You go and save yourself and leave her to me." He said with silly smile. Suddenly a ground shook and small bit of ceiling crashed between them, leaving each on opposite side.

"Y-You can do this again!" Misato shouted with tears falling from her eyes. He couldn´t go away again could he?

"It´s going to be fine, now go!" He said with a weak smile. He turned around and ran before the other falling parts stroke him. Giant part of the ceiling shattered on the ground. Smoke rose from the impact and Misato covered her eyes, when she opened them she realized that he was gone. She silently sniffed as she turned and rushed to the hallways.

"_You idiot_…"

* * *

Asuka pissed in her plug suit; she was never this scared in her life. She was a lamb for the slaughter, on a mercy of a dreadful Angel. Sachiel continued to rip out the organs from her unit in almost animalistic or barbaric way. She couldn´t feel the pain anymore but she still saw everything that he was doing to her. With one pull, Angel tore out a large chunk of guts that sprayed yellow and black substance all over her immobile Unit. He squeezed them with all his might making it drip everywhere on the streets and then shoved it behind him leaving a red stain where it splattered. He pulled another large bit that looked similar to a spleen; he took it into one arm and imploded it with his purple beams that also stroke the left shoulder pylon of the Unit 01.

Asuka couldn´t do anything but to cry and bob back and forth, she was desperately trying to think a way out. There was no way that she could fight, the machine simply refused her. She started to bash the intercom screaming her lungs out. "LET ME OUT. PLEASE LET ME OUT!"

She screamed as the Angel ripped her shoulder pylon leaving the bone and flesh matter in the open. "Please…please…please…please…." She pleaded as she slammed her head at the intercom. She screamed and cried as the angel shoved his hand in her shoulder, ripping all the tissue apart until he grabbed the metal bone.

Her tears were sliding all over the intercom. "Please… just let me out of here… I want to live…please... someone…anyone…please…" But she got no reply from anyone, she surrendered. Angel ripped her bone matter out and threw it at the nearby building, leaving a limp arm which purred all kinds of fluids. Sachiel continued to pull it, soon all the Evangelions nerve connectors in the shoulders broke. He showed it on the largest group of Lilim he could see, impact killed most of them and finished the rest as it slid over the streets, only squeaks and scrapes of metal could be heard now. For a second it sounded as all the screams and sirens went off.

Asuka felt that the Angel started to get closer to her entry plug. She realized that she was only few moments before death. _"Not like this… not now… why me… why did this happen…" _She made a promise to herself that she would never cry, though it was pointless. She already cried all the tears. "P-P-Please… anyone…"

There was a small silence as the world itself stopped. Angel pounded again. She realized how helpless she was, she started to recall all the past years, and what for. They were all for nothing, she went face to face with an Angel and she lost in matter of seconds. She couldn´t stand it anymore, she was sick of the disgusting bloody smell of LCL, sick of all the cries of people, sick of that sadistic Angel, she was sick of living. She felt horrible in her own dirty plug suit, in her own skin.

"If no one will help me…well…this is it." She silently sobbed as she decided to let herself to her fate. Angel grabbed the horn of her unit as she made few last cries. In the final moments she thought of her life, of her mother who left her, of her father who was never there, of all the people that she treated like shit under her shoe… she regretted it all.

She started to go through all the memories again; she felt her whole life flashing before her. "No point in regretting it now…but it still was a shitty life…" She said weakly as she slowly started to remove her head from the intercom. "If I am to die… I will embrace it proudly… I am not just anyone… I am warrior… I am Asuka Langley Soryu!" She shouted as she slowly started to look up.

It took all her power of will to look at the screen, she saw Sachiel looking at her with heart pricing red eyes. He was far but it looked as his huge bone mask was right before her, devouring her soul. She was trying her best not to shake or cry, but at the end she couldn´t help herself. She was nothing but a child in the hands of sadistic giant.

"Goodbye…"

Angel hardened his grip on the neck; Asuka mumbled something to her chin and closed her eyes in surrender.

Sachiel pulled.

Asuka screamed.

* * *

"_Unknown ceiling_."

Noise was everywhere. Shinji awoke in the hospital room, pinned with IV needles from all sides. He slowly reached out and pulled them off one by one. His eardrums started to hurt from all the noise of alarms, explosions and running personnel. He had no idea where he was nor what the hell was happening.

"I´m in a hospital…" He noticed as he observed his patient clothes.

Shinji slowly started to stand up as the pain stroke him. He instantly grabbed his chest; he noticed a small scar on his chest, he guessed that it was from operation. He took a deep breath and stood not feeling that much pain as before. He slowly reached the doors and opened them; he saw that there was chaos all around him. Everywhere people were desperately running in all directions.

"_Attention to all personnel! There are rescue helicopters on the roof, I repeat go for the roof_!" announced a female voice from the intercom.

Not even trying to find out what was happening Shinji decided to find the roof. His feet hurt from walking; he guessed he was out for a while. He could hardly remember much but he was positive that it was his heart. He clumsily avoided all the running nurses and patients that were also heading towards the top of the building.

He barely managed to fight through the crowds and reach it. The moment he entered the open a strong wind blew from the rising helicopter. He was in no condition to fight the small crowds of people that swarmed the remaining helicopters.

His brain halted as he looked at the horizon, this was not his city. He had no idea where he was or why everything was on fire. He was confused alarms were everywhere it seemed like hell itself.

He wished he never looked; he fell on his knees as he continued to observe. If he wasn´t in such deep shock he would surely vomit. Human corpses were scattered everywhere, some of them were burnt to death some of them were impaled on the spikes of ruined buildings, few were piled on each other and still burning but most of them were squashed in tiny pools of blood and human interior. Red was the color that was everywhere across the city, if not from thousands of mutilated corpses that were scattered just about everywhere then it was from the red river that purred through the city. What could desecrate so many humans was out of his comprehension. Was it war? Did war started while he was gone? What was the cause of this slaughterfest?

It sure seemed like the war, but what was with that blood red river. He slowly shifted his gaze around looking at hundreds of crushed planes and destroyed cars. He noticed that the river started somewhere behind him, as he turned he gazed at the up to now most horrific sight he laid his eyes upon.

He looked at the giant 90 feet tall behemoth that looked like he escaped the deepest pits of hell. Every feature of his body terrified Shinji; from its colors the beast looked like it bathed in human interiors. His lower part was soaked in blood, which was distinguishable because of his dark black skin. The monster trailed a giant purple head with one horn. Purple head looked even larger than the one of black giant but a lot bloodier and beaten. Shinji was not sure if nerves or wires dangled from the purple head, they were black and slimy, and they sparkled from the ripped tips but also dripped some yellow substance.

The black giant moved and revealed a decapitated and desecrated body of a purple giant that leaked the red substance all across the city, it answered his previous question. The body missed its entrails and one arm, Shinji started to vomit at the sight of the multicolored bowels.

"Where is he?!" Came a laud female voice behind him. Blue haired woman finally spotted him and rushed to his side. "Are you Ikari Shinji?"

Shinji was unable to produce a sound so he just nodded, still coughing the vomit.

"Good, my name is Ritsuko Akagi and I´m your… doctor. Come, you are ordered to come with me." The blue haired doctor informed as she pulled her white coat and placed it over the boy's shoulders.

"_What the hell was that?_ _Why is this happening? Who is this woman? Where am I? Who ordered what_?" He thought as he slowly rose on his feet, he was holding his stomach to prevent another wave of vomit that was sure to come.

Man that looked like armed police forces gathered around them and helped them to board a special NERV helicopter that arrived. Shinji found himself sitting right across the blond haired woman. Ritsuko was amazed by the calmness of the boy, everyone else seemed to have seizure while the boy calmly sat and looked out of the window.

Shinji was first to break the awkward silence. "What is that thing?" He asked in very cold but weak voice, he never breaking the glance from the giant even for a second, he was not even blinking.

"Shinji…" She slowly placed her arm on his right cheek and turned his head from the window, now his shallow blue orbs were looking at her eyes directly. She was surprised to see that his eyes gave no trace of life or glitter. "I will tell you the whole story, o.k.? You probably want to know everything… why are you here? Who am I and what is that thing, correct?"

The boy nodded with now angrier expression. In this moment he didn´t want nothing more than to go outside and help the people that were left on mercy of the black behemoth. Shinji wasn´t angry with the situation, sad for all the humans or even scared of the manslaughter across the town. He just felt like stopping that beast was the right thing to do.

"I will start from the beginning… with your father…" She said as she removed her hand from his cold cheek.

"_My father? What does he have to do with this?"_

* * *

Commander Gendo Ikari and Sub-commander Kozo Fuyutsuki sat in the comfortable leather chairs of NERVs private airplane. Both of them had their eyes locked at the Angel who was pounding his way down the Geofront with the other giants head.

Gendo was struck by the act; he never imagined that this was the real Angel. The thing that was destined to fall by his son´s hands, instead the Angel destroyed the purple Unit 01 and his wife's soul with it. Emotions crept to him as he started to think if their reunion was even possible now, Fuyutsuki shared his pain. God knows how he wanted to see Yui smile again. They both shared the dismal view on the situation.

"Do you think you will see her again?" Fuyutsuki asked in cool but concerned voice.

"I don´t know…" came a brief reply from downed Gendo. "It is still possible to achieve the Instrumentality… If the Lilith survives it is possible, if not… it was all for nothing." He finished as he started to rub his chin in frustration.

"I´m concerned about the old men, they might not take this very easily. They might even get some strange ideas involving our heads on the plate."

To that Gendo smirked. "They are more likely to rip out our hearts…" Gendo was eased with his underling's humorous remarks, even though he was on verge of showing emotions it partially calmed him.

Fuyutsuki could smile to that. "What do we tell them?"

Commander flexed his neck. "The truth... that our German pilot failed."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "And what do we do next."

Gendo had already formed some sort of a plan; there was a lot of paperwork for him. "Request an immediate transport off all Evangelion units under production in Berlin, also the remodeling of the city to war state." He slowly typed something at the intercom.

Fuyutsuki nodded again as the screen popped on their right,

A young woman´s voice sounded. "_Commander, pilot Ayanami and your son are successfully boarded on a rescue helicopters_."

"Excellent." Gendo replied with his cold voice as he rudely closed the transmission. Fuyutsuki was always amazed how cold his former student threaded their employees.

"You know that our Units are lost, it will be hard to synchronize them with other Units souls…" Old man pointed.

"He might still be useful to us." Gendo replied with a strange look in his eyes, it was amiss and his professor didn´t like it.

Suddenly a massive explosion went off under Tokyo 3. They both turned to look from the windows upon hearing the impact. A large cloud of smoke arose from the open shafts of mobile buildings, soon after the ground started to collapse. In only few seconds whole Tokyo 3 sank into the Geofront and pulverized the whole place. Now only smoke and fire could be seen in giant crater that used to be Tokyo 3, manmade fortress to fight Angels.

Both of them observed how the fires consumed everything, all of their hard work. Fuyutsuki sighted. "Total damage of 2 Evangelion units, Dummy Plug research, Human Evolution Project, Magi… Lilith billiards of dollars thrown into the fire…"

Gendo silently grunted to imply that he was well aware, last thing he wanted was to be reminded. But he cared for none of that, only thing on his mind were Yui his beloved wife and Lilith the second Angel who was needed for their plans, he was wondering if there was any remains of Lilith left from explosion. He widened his eyes as his answer came….

A large black figure broke from the ruins of Tokyo 3 and started to free itself from the remaining of Tokyo 3. It blasted all the chunks away and started to pull himself out. The observing men almost fell on their knees when the Angel extended his arms and started to ascend. Their harts halted as they noticed that his bottom half was white, angel absorbed Lilith. Storm of thoughts passed through their brains, they were well aware that Angel could not initiate third impact with Lilith, but still. What happened? How did he survive N2 self-destruction system?

Angel continued to descent, now his bottom half was completely visible. They noticed that the white legs sprouted from the bottom belly of an Angel, it almost looked like he was pregnant. More and more arms and legs ripped from the white tissue as the Angel was getting closer to the atmosphere. Could it be that Lilith protected herself with AT-field, they didn´t know.

Angel continued to ascent until he went out of sight, radars showed that pattern blue was gone. A report came that pattern blue was getting close to the moon, and then completely vanished. He was no longer in space. Fear of not knowing devoured them, though one thing was certain now, Instrumentality was no longer possible.

"Fuyutsuki…" Gendo started in almost timid voice. "Call the old men…"

Fuyutsuki gulped. "What should I tell them..:"

"I don´t know…"

* * *

In just one day fear consumed the whole Earth. Not knowing. No one knew anything, as it was the cause of it. Not Gendo nor even Keel Lorenz, nobody was ready for this. Whole word witnessed the wrath of an Angel, questions arose. NERV was not ready to cover without their base, information broke on surface, and everyone feared the Angel. Countries across the globe were near ruin from the protests. It didn´t impact only Japan, whole world was heedlessly running and screaming at his higher man. There was chaos everywhere and there was no one to tell them what to do next. Children didn´t sleep that night, fear of Angel stroke every soul in the world. Only thing world did now was wait, in fear of not knowing.

* * *

**NEXT DAY**

Urgent meeting of SEELE was held, even though they were all moonlights it seemed like they breather fire and possessed devilish expressions. Council was already in motion for 3 whole hours. Only person that could be called sane was Keel Lorenz, everyone else seemed to brainlessly shout everything on his mind.

"_Even if they are all world leaders they are still children_." Thought Keel the oldest member as he observed the ranting in silence.

"_Is this what happens when the man is deprived of his dream_." He thought as he studied his robotic palms in his gloomy office. "_There is nothing to our goal now, what remains_…"

Keel rolled in his chair smiling at their foolishness. They were so confident in their prophecies that they completely forgot that even the smallest detail as one boy´s heart can ruin everything. Keel didn´t blame anyone, he knew it was their fault alone. Even in his grief a small part of him was glad that they didn´t execute the torment of Dead Sea Scrolls. Even though they were now facing the unknown his soul was much calmer. "_I won´t achieve immortality_…_not getting any younger staring_" He sadly looked at his old skin and sighted. Our dreams are gone, and what to do now?

He slowly reached to his intercom and opened a channel with other SEELE members. Blood red SOUND ONLY appeared on his moonlight. "Gentlemen I beg for your attention." A loud grumpy chairman's voice spoke through the moonlight.

There was a silence in never ending black space.

"Now… my brothers… we must accept the reality…. Now, when our dreams have failed we must decide what to do!" Keel said with cold voice. "Now without any knowledge of future we must prepare for the worst."

"Where is our boy Angel…" asked SEELE 06 bluntly. Like he was trying do leash his rage onto someone, he probably saw the boy who indeed was an Angel as a best punching bad at the moment. Strange things could happen when the man is deprived of his dream.

"He is waiting to be summoned; he informed me that the 3rd Angel has returned to the Eden." Replied Keel, not liking the mood the room was giving. He would have a hard time calming disturbed old farts.

"Then summon him immediately!" roared the voice from the moonlight 12.

"Not yet brother, I know that you are all gravely upset with our… situation…." Keel grunted. "But right now we must decide what to do; I propose that we accept Gendos offer to make Berlin the new line of defense of Adam."

"Gendo, that insolent bastard!" spat SEELE 02 with Chinese accent.

"True he failed our plan brother." Implied the old Russian, SEELE 04.

"NO brothers." broke a laud voice of the chairman, "This situation is our fault entirely, we will deal with Gendo accordingly, he still has a one more purpose to fulfill. And now I ask of you to consider that offer, we do not know anything more than we were told, so I ask you. Will you just surrender to the Angel… or shall we unite the world in chaos and fight off the destruction. Remember brothers we are very old, some of us may not live another year or so… but if I plan to die I will die of old age not by hand of an Angel. Now be rational… so go and decide."

With that all the moonlights went dim as everyone started to think. After half an hour all moonlights went brighter to announce their decisions. With a short consulting the council of most powerful men in the world decided that they would stand with the humanity.

"I believe we made the right choice, brothers," said Keel through the intercom. "I will order the immediate translation of all the resources to NERV in Berlin. Also I will order a public speaker in every country to calm the rampage of people. All world leaders will heed my call and help us, brothers."

"What about the _boy,_ do we need that Angel spawn now." Muttered SEELE 03.

"Ah yes the boy," Keel nodded as he pressed a button. "Tabris, your presence is required."

Before them appeared a grey haired boy. He took a notice of every present member and bowed humbly.

"Ah… Tabris," Keel announced. "You will need to explain us some things, and remember you are on a thin ice. Now tell us of your brother."

Kaworu nodded. "Sachiel has acquired the second Angel Lilith and brought her back in Eden. From the acquired information from Sachiel other angels proclaimed me and her traitors. They closed the doors for my betrayal and they no longer communicate with me, I am no longer a part of them. As for Lilith they decided to execute and consume her… I believe they are no longer Angels, but something else…"

Small grunting came from the moonlights. "What do you mean by consume her and no longer Angels. What is the consequence of that…?" Asked SEELE 08.

"Knowing the godlike origin of Lilith there is only once purpose to that… evolution…" The boy finished with cold expressionless face. For all he knew he was ex-communicated from his brothers and now he might be disposed by the hands of old men. Life or death made no difference for him, but now the things have changed. Eden was closed and the fear of his former brothers tingled his spine.

Everyone in the room was taken aback by that. "_What will the evolution of Angels cause_?" They all thought worried. "Do we dispose of the boy?" Asked SEELE 04. "I believe he is no longer of any use to us." To that Kaworu gulped in nervousness.

"True, how do we know that he is not spying for his comrades? If we let him go he may turn on us at a point to redeem himself." Applied SEELE 05. Kaworu slowly realized that this was the end of his existence and he couldn´t do anything. He could only await his death and ultimate end of existence.

"NO!" laud voice echoed from SEELE 01, it shook everyone but Kaworu most. "I believe that the boy is not our enemy… brothers he loyally served our cause from the young age… and he still possesses the fragment of soul of Adam…"

"His existence is dangerous," grunted SEELE 02. "He may initiate the Third Impact himself."

"True words brother, but ask yourself. What would it mean to him now?" returned SEELE 01. "All I see in him is a frightened boy who obediently worked for our cause. This is not the time to neglect the useful men. Storm is coming and we must be prepared for anything, I am sure that he will prove his worth as he did always. For all we know Angels may attack at any time, neither we nor he knows anything; I can see it." Kaworus heart started to beat at more normal pace. Other members didn´t seem convinced, ignoring the lack of their body figures.

"The NERV possesses another part Angel if I am correct?"" Asked SEELE 11.

Keel was glad that his old friend asked that. "Correct brother, she is bound to NERV as Tabris is bound to us. After all they are only trustworthy pilots we currently posses. Angels might attack at any time and we are in possession of only 2 stable pilots. True we miss the Evagelions to pilot but still, we can´t risk it. Everything is at stake."

That was the point that persuaded the rest; they all seemed to approve little boy´s life when they realized how much they truly depended on him. If the Angel attacked and they missed a experienced pilot they are as good as dead. Kaworu was trying hard not to smile. "_I will live, they still need me_."

"With the loss of Units 00 and 01 we are in possession to only 1 stabile Evangelion that may be too weak now that the Angels are evolving. If the boy speaks the truth we will wait until two other Evangelions in production are finished and then work on it." Pointed Keel, he quickly changed his view on things. They didn´t even know if the old Evangelions will be able to prevent the new threat.

"Production may take a long time…" Pointed SEELE 05.

"True, I believe we should consult with chief technician Dr. Akagi from NERV. I will grant her permission to make new improved manuscripts for Evangelion production along with professional from the whole world. After all we are dealing with unexpected opponents."

"What do you mean by that, brother?" Asked SEELE 07.

Keel smirked in his office. "You see brothers, even though Evangelions are our mightiest weapons there are still certain limits to their efficacy. I am not a man of science but I believe if we produce an Evangelion to fit a pilot, for instance Kaworu is able to synchronize with any soul and have a complete control making it dancing possible. If doctor Akagi can breach the Evangelion mobility limits and coordinate it with Kaworus abilities we may create even deadlier weapon. If we manage that I would assume that disposal of the Angles would be easier, now that we don´t know nothing of their abilities and we don´t hold victory pattern anymore it is only acceptable solution. "

Everyone seemed to be satisfied with the proposal.

"Now that it is settled, I will leave the rest of you to finish the small business." Said Keel. Soon all the moonlights disappeared leaving SEELE 01 and Kaworu alone.

Keels moonlight formed in his image, now he was standing directly in front of the boy. The old man approached the boy and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Keel smiled at the boy. "How do you feel, Kaworu."

Kaworu liked the way he always used his human name whenever they spoke, so he also smiled. "Much better old man, thanks…"

"Oh don´t mention it boy, you know that the geezers are as scared of you as death."

Kaworu left a small chuckle. "I am very grateful for your faith in me… I won´t disappoint you."

"I expect only the best from you… you are my clone after all." He teased as he started to laugh his grumpy old man laugh, Kaworu also joined. Kaworu liked his a-kin guardian who raised him for the last 15 years. Even though they were always official they still had few of those moments.

"I see you expect something more gramps…" Kaworu said giving him a devilish smile.

Keel smirked to his sharp remark. "I see I raised you well my boy, how we managed to make a sharp philosopher out of AT-field throwing for year old is still a mystery."

"A good parenting…"

"Possible," He said as he raised his chin, as proud of his work. "Situation changed my boy; I can no longer become immortal. You may not realize this human desire… you have my genes, which makes you the closest thing to my son… which doubles my faith in you. Who knows maybe one day you decide to leave your angel part behind." If Keel Lorenz could wink, he would. Kaworu decided that the smile would be the appropriate answer.

Keel frowned. "Now to formalities my boy. First you will go to Berlin and meet with the other pilot, the First Child. You will observe everything for us and especially her. You may not be aware yet but she is also an Angel clone like yourself. Due to circumstances it´s required to boost your teamwork for future co-operation. That means that you are forbidden to play with their minds… can you do that?" Keel asked, thinking that he is asking the impossible. He was well aware of mind toying the boy could do, he was partially guilty for that. After all they had to teach him that to enhance his chances of success with mind probing of Shinji Ikari.

"Hmm… I can manage not breaking them…" Kaworu said as he was not completely certain of that.

"Good enough! Now we part my boy I have a lot of work to do, good luck"

Kaworu nodded and they both dissembled into nothingness.

* * *

**2 DAYS LATER**

Gendo Ikari just finished his conversation with his Sub-commander Fuyutsuki. He was seated in his new made office in the NERV branch in Berlin, the future line of defense for Adam. His office was a lot smaller than it used to be. He loved his previous office but it hardly mattered to him now.

There was a knock on his wooden doors. "Come in." Called Gendo as he made his usual "hands over mouth pose". Ritsuko Akagi entered his office with a small bunt of papers.

"I´m bringing the news of the new Evagelion models, along with some other things those old men wanted." She said as she placed them on his table.

Gendo feeling that his pose was not needed with the doctor Akagi placed his hands on his chair. "It doesn´t matter to me now Ritsuko. I didn´t have a chance to talk to my son yet, I believe you took care of him for these few days?"

"I did. He is very determined to speak with you; he wants to apply to become an Evangelion pilot."

"I see… I presume you slipped information or two…" Gendo pointed in his usual cold voice, though this was a bit of a shock to him.

"Y-Yes… he seems to be very determined. He can´t get over the fact that someone died in Unit 01 in his stead."

Gendo was amused how the boy took the blame on himself, he reminded him of someone. "He will pilot the new Unit 03. I already spoke to the old men."

Doctor Akagi was taken aback by that statement. "H-How… your w-… core of Unit 01 is lost… he won´t be able to synchronize properly to other souls…"

"That will change today…" Gendo said as he stood up from his chair.

Blond woman was unsure of what he was referring to but she saw through his glasses when he stood up. She was unfamiliar with the look so she tried to spoke up but he did first.

"You will have to leave that with the Sub-Commander. Summon my son to the cargo with Unit 03; in the meantime I have to speak to someone."

"_I bet it´s your puppy doll_…" Ritsuko thought bitterly. God knew how she loathed the girl.

"Yes Commander…" She said. They both entered the hallway and parted in different directions.

* * *

Gendo walked to the white doors of medical room. He slowly entered and saw red eyed albino girl, Rei Ayanami laying on the bed completely covered in bandages.

"Good morning Rei."

"Good morning Commander." Rei greeted with weak voice. Gendo Ikari pulled a chair and sat close to her bed.

"How are you feeling? I have ordered doctor to put you off your usual pill diet; you will start to feel effects very soon."

Rei was not comprehending the importance of the last part but she guessed that it didn´t matter. "Doctor said that I´m making progress, sir. I feel no effect from the change of my diet." Girl replied with emotionless face. Even though she was still in pain she tended not to show it.

"I see… is something else bothering you?"

"I am concerned because I received no orders. I am thinking that you might find me useless because of destruction of Unit 00, which I was given to pilot. I am thinking of it because my bond whic-"

"-untrue!" Gendo interrupted."We do not find you useless, Rei. I came to speak of you about your bond."

The girl nodded.

"I am breaking it."

The girl blinked in surprise. "Then how am I not useless…"

Gendo sighted. "Rei… do you remember how I thought you that you that your existence is only for sake of NERV, how you are obligated to fulfill your bond to mankind and that your only purpose is to follow my orders…"

The girl nodded solemnly.

"Forget it…"

The girl blinked in surprise, again. "I do not understand…"

Gendo realized that this was not going to be easy. "I am trying to set some things right, Rei. I lied to you, we people must choose our own purpose and find our own self-worth, something that you have to find for yourself… something that some of us still can´t do. We tried to create a world where all people would understand each other, world where you wouldn´t be bothered by those things. Now when that world is no longer possible you will need to find it for yourself and with that your bond to me ends…"

"I still can´t understand…" Gril said as the words echoed in her head.

"Maybe in time..." Gendo said as he stood up and reached for the doors. "Soon you will meet my son, Shinji Ikari. He will be your future comrade in piloting, he may help you with the understanding…"

"I am sorry commander but I still see no mea-"

It was painful to look at her when she reminded him so much of his wife. When she showed just a bit of emotions all his deep suppressed feelings started to tremble. He didn´t know why but he did really care for his experiment, not sure if for her look or something else… but he did care.

"Live..."

"I-I-I…Excuse me, commander?"

"That is my final order…just live." Gendo said as he left out of room and closed the doors.

Rei once again blinked utterly confused. "_Live?_" After a brief thinking she closed her eyes and started to recall the whole conversation. As much she thought about everything it still didn´t make much sense to her. She lost her purpose but was given a task to find her own. She was still a pilot but she was no longer bound to it. It made no sense to her…as she was told she decided to consult Ikari Shinji about her problem.

* * *

Shinji Ikari was standing on the pylons above the unfinished robot that was called Unit 03 by all passing technicians. He was finally going to see his father, after 3 years. He was not sure if he was happy or frightened. He knew that his father wanted to summon him to pilot these giant robots, instead his heart failed him and somebody else did it. That person is now apparently dead, and he couldn´t help but to feel guilty. Even though doctor Akagi explain that it is not his fault in any logical way, guild was devouring him none the less. He couldn´t explain it but he felt that things could be different if he entered that purple robot, maybe he would win or maybe he would die, either way he found it more acceptable. And so he decided to ask his father for permission to pilot, he wanted to make things better, to prevent any more manslaughter that monster that was so called Angel did, it felt like a right thing to do.

He suddenly heard footsteps, whole complex was squeaking from the metal noises. He realized that he was completely alone in this gloomy place and that some dark figure was approaching from the shadows. Moment later he noticed that it was his father who was approaching, his heart started to beat faster. More he approached more he tried not to run away, he was still frightened of the man. By the time the shadowy figure stepped into the light before him he felt that he might die if he only looked at him in the wrong way.

"It´s been a while…" Gendo spoke with a small smile. He had no idea how much the boy resembled his mother. Now when she was gone he was forced to embrace the fact that this boy was the last thing besides Ayanami that was left of her. He felt a bid remorse only looking at his blue orbs, same as his mothers.

Shinji was not sure how he should interpret this. "I-It is…" He said with very meek and humble voice. "F-Father you know tha-"

"-I know what you want, son. I already approved you as a pilot. But now I have to tell you some things." Gendo interrupted with his usual cold commander-ish tone.

Shinji nervously gulped then nodded. Even though his father showed no hostility of any kind he was still on full alert. "O.k.…"

"From this day forward you will live at this base, you will not attend any school until you see it fit. If you choose this path you will have to go through very unpleasant trainings and preparations. Do you understand all of it?"

Shinji nodded with more determined look.

"Good…we expect great things of you, I expect great things if you. From this day you will work to clean the mess me and others did, and for that I am… sorry."

Words stroke the boy; this was the first time father apologized to him, the words felt like heaven. He always believed that he would be happy if the man praised him, this was also good. Even though he was not that clear with the situation or the meaning of the apology he still appreciated it.

"You can even think off all of this as an apology." Gendo said as he walked to the rusty fence on the ends and placed his arms on them.

"I-I don´t understand…"

"I guess you don´t… but you will. When we conclude our talk you will go and look for Sub-commander Fuyutsuki, he will give you two books. One of them is called _Cabal_ and other _Dead Sea Scrolls_. Those books will give you all the answers for your questions."

Gendo looked at the boy and smiled. "You may pity me now but you will loath me later. If this doesn´t satisfy you enough then think of this as my own selfishness." He said as he started to climb the rail. "_Dam it I am old_…" He thought as the pain in his back stoked him. Moment later he was successfully standing on the cold metal rails trying to keep his balance.

Shinji didn´t know what shocked him most, his father words which he didn´t understand at all, or the fast that he was standing on the rails. He started to worry, but not for himself. "F-Father what are you… y-yo-"

"-Now!" Gendo interrupted. "You might consider this my final gift to you, as my fulfilling of your wish. You may think of this as kindness or whatever you want. Maybe this is because of your mother, maybe I simply decided to stop running away, maybe because old man wanted me dead anyway. I do not know myself, it´s up to you what you want to believe in." He finished as he looked down into the metal skeleton of Unit 03.

"W-What are you doing I don´t understand…" Shinj said with sobbing, he was not sure himself of why but some sense in his mind started to scream. There was a small silence.

Gendo looked at the dark complex with distant look in his eyes, like he was staring at nothing and completely ignoring the boy as he was just a random shadow. He slowly sighted. "We do not know anything. I am too weak to live in unknown, you might be different. You still have much of her inside; ask Fuyutsuki, he could tell you a good thing or two of your mother. Maybe you even have some of me… maybe you will even redeem my soul one day… nobody knows anything."

Shinji started to sob. "Father, you d-don´t mean-"

"-Yes," Gendo interrupted. "I think I never really sad goodbye properly in my life. God knows how bad I am with letting go… I regret many things, Shinji… hope you do better… now goodbye…" He finished as his body leaned forward.

In the next second Shinji watched his father's dark figure fall through the skeleton of Unit 03. He quickly tired to reach him, but failed. He found himself with hands on the rails screaming. His father´s body could now be seen with swollen broken blue neck, laying on the red ball in the stomach of Unit 03. For a second it seemed like the ball glowed bright red, and then completely went black.

"F-F-Fath…er?"

* * *

**DAY LATER**

"You look really tired you know." Purple haired woman informed. Her voice echoed in the dark hallways of NERV.

Black haired boy nodded as he slowly walked by her side. "I guess… I spent the whole night reading…s-something."

"I know that it is hard; I lost someone dear to me too. You don´t have to hold it inside, sooner or later you will have to try to move forward as I am trying to do, but it´s nice to occupy your thoughts with something, for someone it´s a book and for other a bear." Misato said recalling her own problems, feeling sorry for the new pilot. She recently met him and learned of his loss, she indentify with him for that, and not only for that. Even though they knew each other for a short time she realized that he was a good kid

Shinji sighted, still recalling all the things he learned reading. "I guess…I am not sad or anything… maybe I m even angry… I don´t know myself"

He doubted that anyone could understand his position. How would anyone feel if they knew that they were practically born to suffer? He was glad that he would not live through the scenario he read, though damage was already done. How would anyone feel if they knew that their life was miserable only because others made it like that on purpose, that you were meant to be a doll for other man´s goal? He hated his father for that but he was still unsure, all the sadness and affection for the man disappeared but so did the anger and haltered. He was not sure what to believe in, if anything he was glad that he fulfilled his wish.

Major thought that he was obviously lying to himself, but she saw more and more of herself in him. "Well I´m glad for you… but who do you blame most if I may know."

"Probably the Angels for their existence…"

Major started to laugh to that. The boy confusedly observed as Misato held her stomach and bobbed back and forth. "I s-see…well… you are completely fine… "She spoke between chuckles.

Boy just raised an eyebrow on the immature behavior of his officer. "Oh… it´s nothing… you just remind me of someone…" She said with a confusing look.

"Is that good?" Boy asked with puzzled face.

"I would not know that myself." She said as she tapped him on the back. They continued to walk through the dark hallways. "You know Shinji, I already had a chance to meet the new pilots, and you my boy are something completely else…"

"Is that a good thing or bad?"

"I don´t know…" She said still laughing "it depends… if to compare with Seco…" Her voice stiffed.

Shinji cached the word. "Second Child, one who died in battle of Tokyo 3?"

"Yeah… somebody told you about _her_?" Misato asked biting her nail.

By the woman´s actions Shinji realized that this was maybe not a most appropriate theme for talking. "I´ve read about her… didn´t know it was _she_…but it doesn´t matter."

"_She was supposed to torment me and make me more miserable, and in the end make me completely insane… but he was also supposed to be my friend… or so the Scrolls say_…" Shinji thought as he recalled the parts about relations of Second and Third Child, a pretty big part. Even though she was supposed to make his life living hell he still felt guilty, he felt pathetic for that.

"She did to me…" Misato pointed, with sad look on your face. "She was a good kid; I think… you know I was the one responsible for her…"

The boy shook his head.

"But don´t worry," She said with a weak forced smile as she thumped him on the back. "I will not let that happen to you! I promise to take extra care of you from now on."

He had no idea how literally she meant that. Shinji realized that she was hurting but he was still grateful for her kindness, so he gratefully nodded making a small smile. "Thanks, major."

"Pfff major… you can call me Misato and I will call you Shinji or Shinji-chan… or whatever I come with. We are working together in this Angel slaying business, so we are basically comrades… so screw the fuckers I say!" Misato yelled tapping the boy in the ribs.

He was never comfortable with using curses when with adults, especially ones in position, but for the sake of the moment. "Ummm… yeah… s-screw the f-fuckers…." Shinji spoke with silent voice; he wondered if she was drunk, she smelled like beer.

"That´s the spirit Shinji! I will make a decent pilot out of you!" She assured with an odd voice.

"Thanks…Misato." He replied noticing that they already rambled through this hallway for a third time. "Umm…Misato we passed this place already."

She rubbed back of her head making a silly laugh "Oh! Didn´t I mention that I am giving you a detour of the place…"

"Not as I recall… you know that I am living here for four days now…" He asked with irritated look.

"Not for long Shin-chan…" She said with brood smile. Shinji didn´t get it. "AHA! We are here!" Misato announced as she pointed at the wooden doors.

"_Sometimes I wonder_…" Shinji frowned. "So other pilots are inside?"

"Yep… feeling nervous?"

"A little."

"Well I did escort you…sooo I will see you later I have some public speaker work to do" Misato said as she waved and turned. "Good luck kid…" She whispered. Shinji however didn´t hear it. Next moment she was gone and he was left alone in front of the wooden doors.

Shinji reached for the knob and took a deep breath. First he knocked then slowly opened the doors. He saw a small gloomy room with three leather stools and a small table in the middle. Two stools were already occupied by two apparently albino kids. He was a little relieved that he actually may not be the weird one as he previously misinterpreted Misatos words.

* * *

"We are the same." Albino boy told the bandaged girl with a devious smile.

"We are not!" Albino girl replied giving him ´Judging you hard´ look. In that moment Shinji opened the door and peaked with his head.

Kaworu turned in his directions. "We were wondering how long would take for you to find us, please sit." He said as he pointed at the available stool.

"_He seems normal despite the look_…" Shinji thought. He also noticed the girl, she had a bandaged arm and left eye. She looked like she came from a battlefield, a damn bloody battlefield. She also had the same blood red eyes as the other boy, it made him uneasy.

"Uh, sure… nice to meat you my name is Sh-"

"-Shinji Ikari" Albino boy interrupted smiling.

Shinji was surprised; he thought that they were as clueless as him. He was always a nervous at meetings so he didn´t like their upper hand. He wanted to make a good impression on his future comrades. "T-They already told you of me?"

"You could say that… it could be that I was told a lot earlier than you think." Boy returned now shifting his gaze to the albino girl next to him, like going ´am I right´ but as in a mocking way. Girl narrowed her eyes as she saw through him.

Shinji was feeling confused. "U-Umm?"

"We might say," Albino boy started again shifting his gaze on him. Shinji felt a bit uneasy from the boy´s glaring red orbs. "that I was supposed to be the Fifth Child, though do to circumstances I am now the Fourth Child…"

Upon hearing Fifth Child Shinji remembered all that he read of him, an Angel? He tried to spoke but other boy started in his stead. "Yes, exactly what you are thinking. My name is Kaworu Nagisa. I am a clone of human and 1st Angel Adam. And _she_…" He finished as his eyeballs turned to the girl.

Shinji was about to spoke something again when the girl interrupted him this time. "I am Rei Ayanami the First Child. I am a clone of human and 2nd Angel Lilith." She was now glaring daggers at the albino boy.

They both seemed to completely ignore him now; they seemed more occupied having a staring contest with each other, Girl called Rei was giving the other boy an angry look while he was giving her a mischievous smile. "_And here I was thinking that I would be the weird one, though it explains why they look so simmilar_…"

"I-I umm… I am human…" Shinji said rubbing the back of his head and making a stupid smile.

They both turned to him, both losing their previous looks. "Hmhmhm… you Lilim are the most interesting of all… I hope we will be good friends Shinji-kin." Albino boy said as he offered his hand to the boy. Shinji noticed how the girl twitched on a second when he used the term Lilim.

Shinji took his hand. He found his touch very cold, he never knew that touch could be this strange. They both shook hands. Shinji looked at the girl who remained passive, only looking at his with expressionless face. He guessed that she won´t be the one to offer first so he decided that it would probably be polite if he did it.

He slowly extended his hand in her direction. "U-Um I hope we can also be friends…Ayanami" He said making a silly face. The girl blinked few times, she was not familiar with the concept of friendship. She slowly took his hand. As they shook Shinji noticed that she was also cold, girl was however surprised of how warm his touch was.

"I-It is acceptable." Rei said as she pulled her hand back and placed it back on her knees. She was told by recently deceased Commander Ikari that his son could provide her with some of her confusions. She made a mental note to speak to him in private as soon as possible.

"So… "Shinji started looking at them both simultaneously. "You probably know each other from before." Since they seemed to interact on somewhat personal basis they seemed like that, at least to Shinji.

"Oh some parts of us have known each other for millenniums. Though not us, we have met just recently, one hour perhaps." Kaworu said throwing a quick glance at the girl. She returned his gaze with irritated one.

Shinji was once again completely confused. He simply couldn´t comprehend how much they seemed to not approve the other if they knew each other for only one hour, he did not even think of that millennium part it made no sense to him.

"Uhu…" Shinji briefly spoke.

"Hmhm… I see that out actions confuse you I must point that we bear no grudges against each other, we just came to a little disagreement." Albino boy assured. Girl gave a small nod.

"I´m sorry for assuming wrong…" Shinji apologized still a bit unsure.

"No need for apology, it´s partially my fault." Kaworu replied as he stole the glance from Rei giving her yet another teasing smile. To Shinji it looked that Kaworu was giving her the look that implied that she was very guilty. Girl seemed to realize it as well, so she resumed with her ´judging you even harder´ face.

"I don´t consider myself guilty for anything, it was you who started our discussion with random incomprehensive questions. Why is that pilot Nagisa?" Rei asked with the passive face, making it look like she was not even giving a damn.

Albino boy was a bit irked from the girl´s remark on his words; she makes it sound like he was ranting nonsense, "Could be…" He said in obvious sarcasm, what he really meant was ´don´t judge if you don´t understand´. "I find your mind equivalent to a puzzle, and my dear friends… I am addicted to puzzles."

Girl was taken aback by that, she just continued to stare at him and occasionally blink as in surprise. Shinji was still having his doubts about the two. Kaworu now turned his gaze directly to Shinji.

"It goes for you also. I am really looking forward to explore your mind, Shinji. We could even say that I was born to do it…." He finished giving Shinji yet another devilish smile as he was teasing him to death. It worked, Shinji almost fell out of his chair from nervousness other boy´s eyes gave him. His spine was really tingling now, and he had a lot of things to think about.

"_This is going to be a weird friendship_…" He concluded as he observed the two red eyed albinos who were also staring at him.

* * *

**ONE YEAR LATER **(3.7.2016)

"Ah I can finally see the work of our combined efforts, doctor Akagi." Keel said as he approached the blond hair woman.

"I am really satisfied with the result; I think you might find these new models quite interesting." Ritsuko applied showing him the way to the Evangelion chambers.

"I am impressed with your remodeling of the city; I especially like the shield above the city." Keel said as he adjusted his visor.

"Yes, it´s called Great Roof of Berlin nowadays, sir. We created it on the image of Geofront and black moon, though we enhanced it´s endurance from Angels beam attacks." The doctor pointed out proudly.

"And you did a good job, it´s certainly something to be proud of. We can´t let the Angel drop down in the middle of our city again, now can´t we." Said Keel in his grumpy voice.

The doctor shared his view. "Yes, battle of Tokyo 3 was a source of much useful information. We have learned a lot since then." She said as she pressed the button of the first chamber. The man nodded.

When the metal doors opened both of them entered the gloomy room. Lights turned on revealing a completely new Unit 05. It looked completely different than any other generic Evangelion did. It was bigger for about 20 feet, which approximately made it around 100 feet tall. First thing to notice were 2 sets of arms, while first pair was standard other pair came from the back and looked more bionic. It was colored both dark blue and black, with some of silver on the edges and bit of light blue on the breastplates and cuisses. Its helmet didn´t covered his mouth or hard chin, which made it terrifying look. Up from mouth it looked like standard war helmet with only addition of spiked sides who gave it a look similar to bunny ears, painted in black and dark blue. If it had eyes they couldn´t be spotted from the dark glass of armor.

"Magnificent…" Keel vowed looking at the giant Unit 05 before him.

Ritsuko smirked at his remark, she was damn proud of her work and she liked when men of experience praised her work. It was a miracle what team of 100 scientists and technicians can accomplish in only 1 year. "Unit 05 is our most recent produced unit. As you might have noticed that we took a liberty to bring many changes to old manuscript."

"I doubt you changed only the looks doctor? But please spare me of complicated science I am only interested in results." Keel said as he adjusted his visor to a more gloomy space.

Blond hair woman smirked again. "Most of the changes are internal. We completely passed the human body structure and decided to add extra ligaments and elbows to the arms both metal and bone, with addition to other pair of extendable arms, which enables this unit to move in the way impossible to humans. Improvements make this Evangelion the most flexible of all. Even though he is very adequate in close range it turned to be our best long range unit. Due to Kaworus powerful ability of focus he is able to hold on to 4 firearms at the same time, and shoot them simultaneously with 40% accuracy. He is managing a decent synchronization of 134.44% precise."

"Wasn´t there a problem with high mental containment on that levels?" Keel asked curiously.

"Due to developing of S2 systems from the scrap remaining of Angel we found in ruins of Tokyo 3, and new ego and protein system contamination is present only on 400%, which is very critical and unexplored condition. We still don´t know much of the consequences of synch that high. Nowadays synchronization between 90 and 220 is considered to be normal. " Doctor replied.

"Then isn´t it weird that Kaworus synchronization is pretty low on that standards, despite his abilities?" Asked Keel.

"I think it is acceptable since this unit was made from dismantled Unit 02, which was not originally meant for his usage. This is the last unit made from Lilith..." Doctor Akagi pointed; she had fun being diligent with the old man. She liked the way she wondered about everything but still understood her work and praised it. Maybe he would give her a promotion if she asked?

The last part caught his interest. "Interesting, so the others…"

"Yes… their biological structure is 70% human and 29% Adam… which didn´t diverge from Lilith as we thought it might…" Doctor Akagi replied giving away an unsure look, like she was not sure herself.

Even in his own age Keel felt the oddity of curiosity. In his opinion Evangelions were truly a creations worth of praise. Curious old man once even wondered if he could ride one himself before his cyborg body left him. But now curiosity to see more engulfed him. "And the others are?"

"Right this way sir." Risuko said walking down to other large metal doors in the room. She took her remote and opened them.

Now they entered an even larger cargo. Lights popped on to reveal even bigger figure than before. Keel couldn´t even see the top of the behemoths head, even though he was half way drowned in LCL. This one was painted silver and was about 140 feet tall if not even bigger. If to compare with Unit 05 which was relatively thin for Evangelion this looked enormous in structure. Most noticeable thing was pair of really huge arms with even larger shoulder pads. Keel noticed a giant cannon pointing out of its back, he was starting to wonder how strong its legs had to be to carry a weight of that enormous arms and canon. Helmet reminded him of the ones that medieval knights wore; it gave it a formidable yet elegant look.

"I am even more impressed with your work Dr. Akagi. Now tell me what makes this one special" The man asked as he observed every detail of the silver giant, wondering if the giant could lift the whole building.

Rotsuko shrugged like saying ´I don´t even know how good I am myself´. "This one is quite the hitter, very different that other two units. Unit 04 is more of a defense than offense type, despite the most overwhelming strength among Evangelions. His size was originally meant to make it harder to knock down, and to ease the impacts. Pilot Ayanami is able to produce the strongest AT-field of all so it fits perfectly with its vanguard abilities. Even though we tended to make it more into the close combat style, it is still troubled with its slower movement. So in the end we added positron cannon with 2 charges, along with other firearms, but Rei is not even close to Kaworus shooting skills. Purpose of this one would be the defense and holding off the enemy with its superior durability skills."

"Magnificen," Keel remarked in admiration. "And what of her synchronization, is she able to concord with it properly?"

"She stabilized around 102.13%, it´s quite admirable for her state." Doctor pointed, giving a credit to Rei. After a whole year absence of Commander Ikari Rei grew on her slightly, now at least she didn´t loathe and disapprove of her, at least not as before. They were still pretty much on professional terms. Even though her existence was still not in her ethics book she started to think of her as more human being.

Man was still inspecting the every detail of the giant. He was truly amazed. When he finished he wondered about the last one. "That is quite admirable giant indeed, excellent investment of taxpayers' money…and the Unit 03?"

She opened yet another giant metal door. "Right, this way chairman…"

They both left the chamber of Unit 04 and entered a much smaller one. This time Keel found himself looking at even smaller Evangelion than previous ones were. This one was around 60 feet tall, 65 maximum. It didn´t look much different than previous Unit 01 in structure and look, only difference was a quite larger and longer horn on the head. It was also painted in different colors, this one replaced purple with black and green with brown and yellow. Keel remembered that that were colors Gendo usually wore, he chuckled.

"What is with this one, quite a small fellow?" Man asked in anticipation to be amazed. This one looked a lot smaller and thus weaker than other two. But Keel learned not to judge things by appearance, shorter beast still radiated in some sort of frightening malice, it again reminded him of Gendo whose soul now inhabited the black giant.

"Oh this one is quite the monster." Doctor replied, looking at the beast like she was keeping an eye on him. "Pilot Shinji was always achieving the biggest synchronization scores; he is currently stabilized around 183.73%. Cause of it is probably the fact that he is related to soul in the core, thus bonding is more likely to happen. Unfortunately that is not the case with other two but they still manage to concord at decent level."

Keel Lorenz found it very interesting that the boy could get along with a person like Gendo, well he was his son after all, and who could possibly do it if not he. "I see… is there more?"

"Yes, through a lot of research and tests it was shown that Pilot Shinji can raise the synchronization percentage depending on his current state, which at some point allowed him to abuse the Evangelion human limits."

Old man nodded in approval. "And how did you use those advantages?"

"Speed," Doctor Akagi replied, Keel found this answer to be very interesting. "With his abilities we decided to solely focus on efficiency and quality of his legs along with lower parts, enhancing them with a lot of new biological and mechanical parts. Results were astonishing as we discovered that the pilot can manage to break the sound barrier within 30 seconds of running, "

"Oh that really is impressive." Keel applied in amazement.

"That is not all; moving from transonic to supersonic is the easiest thing for this one." Doctor pointed proudly. "Unit 03 is able to run in Mach 5, maybe even 6 or 7 in future if it´s even possible. That makes it the fastest thing on this planet dear chairman. Unfortunately we are still unable to properly use the arms, at all. Using or even exposing them while running can create a distortion that causes the whole unit to lose balance and crash. So to make something out of that enormous speed we came up with the horn and enhanced the neck muscles and plates, making it something like impact weapon like bull's horns."

"I am sadly not a man of science doctor… how strong would that be?"

Doctor rested her chin on one arm and drifted into calculations. "In force it would probably be stronger than any nuclear weapon in the world… and impact force… if to count velocity and speed… K.E= 1/2 (m*V^2)… together with approximate distance of target and starting position... F=K.E/D if I remember…"

"Doctor?" Keel interrupted. "There is no need for physics."

"Oh sorry… "Doctor apologized as she rubbed the back of her head. "Silly me…umm pretty much the most devastating force we could manage to create, which in the ends makes this Unit to work on hit and run basis."

Chairman had to admit that this was indeed the most impressive one to date. But there was still few questions bugging him. "But we still lack the Evangelion that is specialized in close combat."

"That is sadly correct." Dr. Ritsuko answered. "Unit 06 will maybe see the light of day in year and a half…"

Keel nodded. "And what of its pilot?"

Doctor shrugged. "We are still searching but none of applied ones qualifies for a close combat."

"Well, keep looking. Angels can attack any time it would be bad if we don´t meet them prepared." Chairman lectured. "How is their team efficiency?"

"_They are ripping everything to shreds_" was what she thought she could say.

"Their performance is great, for now they are easily handling all the simulations in matter of seconds. We just recently invented the programming ability to enable custom Angel programming. We hired some technicians to program Angels in new and unique ways to prepare them for unknown."

"Great work." The man complimented. "And what of Lance of Longinus?"

"We intended to give it to close combat unit but since we currently don´t posses one it is given to Unit 04." Blonde haired woman replied. "But don´t get this wrong sir, it matches quite well with Unit 04."

Keel gave slow nods. "I must say that I am quite pleased with your work Doctor... is this everything?"

"I believe so, sir."

"Good, then we might as well grab something to drink, my old bones can´t endure this much waling. I also have more things to discuss with you young doctor…" The man announced as he turned and started to walk by the path they came from.

Ritsuko followed and thought. "_If my promotion isn´t one of them, I will seriously choke someone_."

Chairman suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, if Unit 03 runs at Mach 5 speed how does it stop?"

"U-Um…"

* * *

**ONE YEAR LATER** (3.7.2017)

Shinji Ikari was wondering on the streets of Berlin with hands in his pockets.

More and more glimpses of blue pattern were detected in space, which meant that the Angels were close. He was starting to believe that they would never come, or he hoped. When he was nervous he would usually stroll around.

Since the whole world knew of Angels and Tokyo 3, and since the NERV was helpless at the time the information leaked and now the whole world knew who he was. He was dressed in simple blue jeans and black and yellow vest, with hood hiding his face. No matter how hard it tried it was awkward every time someone accidently recognized him and suddenly a mob swarmed him. It was fine the first year when nobody appeared to care that much of his existence. But one day they were ordered to go on the field practice in their Evangelions. Probably the whole world witnessed the might of their Evangelions, especially his own who ran from Berlin to Dresden in less than an hour. From that day forward things became nasty. Now the whole world knows his boxer size, his toothpaste, and his favorite composer… pretty much everything that was not deleted by NERV. Damn those hackers…

He can´t remember the last time someone charged him, apparently now everything was free. Few minutes ago he practically threw money at the shopkeeper; the man refused it claiming that it would be an insult for Evangelion pilot to pay. It was quite annoying, Shinji hated to be threaded like he was special. He had enough of it where he lived; Misato, Rei, Kaworu and pretty much everyone threaded him like he was some sort of royalty. He hated it, he hated himself.

No matter how hard he tried, he still couldn´t get over the fact that things could end up differently if he boarded that purple giant 2 years ago, his own mother to be more precise. Maybe he would also fail? Maybe he wouldn´t and then he would run away and Instrumentality would never happened? It was possible in his mind, but he was also aware that he wouldn´t know any of it if it wasn´t for this event. He witnessed that faith wasn´t carved in stones, and thus he still felt guilty. It could have always turned better; at least 12.345.221 people would be alive if he piloted it at the time. Guilt was a bitch and he was aware that he shouldn´t blame himself, but guilt was indeed a bitch so he couldn´t help it. And so he hated himself every time he was praised when this new upcoming war against unknown enemy was practically his fault.

He was 16 now, almost an adult and he was still unable to join normal society. Frankly he was afraid to go to school. He did want to go but he never found strength to. Sometimes he would walk past the high school building near his apartment and sigh, telling himself that he would try the next time he walks by. Next time still didn´t came. At least he lived in environment where he was accepted for who he was, maybe that was the reason he didn´t need to interact with modern society. It was not like he wasn´t getting education; he has a few tutors and instructors who are both good people and teachers.

Living with Misato was quite a strange experience in his opinion. He liked the airhead woman; she was something like a big sister to him. She was his guardian but she never acted like that; he could even say that he was her guardian at times. Woman was heavy drinker, childish, lazy and generally unable to take proper care of herself. It soon became his job to do all the housework. Misato was constantly busy working at NERV and being a public speaker for Gernany. He was sometimes even wondering if he was living alone.

His pseudo Angel friends were also nearby, to be precise his closest friends. Shinji thought it was comical that the epic feud of Adam and Lilith would resume in Kaworu and Reis all out battle for affection from none other than Shinji himself. Kaworu tried to explain him how they inherited the souls of godlike creatures Adam and Lilith who did not agree that much. In fact whole world witnessed that. It was the truth but they didn´t hate each other, in fact they coexisted as pilots and humans like any normal person would. The souls were now theirs but they still held that ancient sense of disapproval of other. It was even beyond them to control that.

It was a pure comedy how they disagreed about every single thing, even about vegetarian food. They even debated about whose ´end of the world scenario´ was better. There was one time when Kaworu told us that he hated cats; Rei adopted a small kitten the next day. Ritsuko approved of her actions so no one said anything. Kaworu had a pet snake he called Lily, I wonder why?

They both lived at the same building not very far from my own. They both preferred to live alone which was fine by everyone at NERV, since they both possessed angelic powers no one ever doubted their ability to take care for themselves.

Rei who besides Misato was his closes female friend didn´t change a lot through these years. She did learn a few things and could show some emotions more easily, though she never tended to. She was still very silent and hardly talked to anyone if she didn´t have to, besides him and few other people. He could swear that the girl became a bit sadistic and used more irony and sarcasm along the way. Once he visited her at her apartment that looked more or less like a pig stall. From that day onward Shinji checked up on her apartment once a week, just to be sure everything was clean and tidy.

Kaworu who was his best friend was a different story. He had a nice and well decorated apartment, which could easily be mistaken for a library. Through these 2 years he managed to adapt to normal human behavior and stop using words like ´cromulent´ or ´insangelous´ at normal conversations. He was the person who Shinji spent most of the time with and trusted the most. They would hang out often and Rei would tag along like it was her duty or something. None of them went to school, Kaworu apparently didn´t need to and Rei said that she would if she was ordered to. Kaworu told him that he would go if he did, and after hearing this so did Rei. But for now it was still on hold.

They were a pretty weird group of friends. Not minding them being pseudo Angels they were the nicest people he had known. He got along with both of them but sadly it couldn´t be told for their relations. It wasn´t anything serious as NERV was afraid it would be. Though there was that time when they decided to have birthdays at the same day, which lead to war on which one Shinji would attend. Shinji persuaded them to celebrate together. It depends on how you look on situation where two AT- fields were drawn and leashed at each other, if someone could ignore that Shinji could say that it went flawlessly.

Shinji continued to stroll down the streets completely lost in thoughts. Suddenly a man appeared before him and he accidently bumped him in the side.

"I´m sorry, sir." Shinji apologized raising his hands.

"Don´t worry. It´s my fault kiddo, I sometimes wonder off… no biggie." The man in brown coat replied. He nodded to the boy who returned the gesture. Then he turned and walked in opposite direction.

"_I could swear that I saw him somewhere before_." The unshaved man thought as he reached his nearby apartment. "_Probably one of her friends… they seem to be in the same age group_."

He slowly reached the elevator and later on his apartment. He slowly opened the door. "I´m home."

"Did you buy some potato chips?" Came a female voice from his living room. The man walked towards the voice.

He found her in her usually position, on couch eating junk and watching TV. He sighted. "Do you ever move from that position, Kimmy?" He asked teasingly.

Girl received the words as a mocking. "Did you buy it or not?" She demanded, obviously irritated.

The unshaved man was looking at her hand desperately reaching for the bag. He was surprised what the girl did to herself in the past few years. Nowadays she hardly moved away from the couch, he wondered if she even had friends at school she could go out with. If she wasn´t spending her time there she would spent in devouring everything at the refrigerator. He could imagine her classmates laughing at her because of her weight or crappy outlook. But in a way he didn´t feel that much empathy, he knew that she could change everything, but she didn´t.

Unshaved man sighted. "You know this work is not profitable as it used to be, sooner or later I will have to go back." He pointed as he was trying to tell her something.

The girl called Kimmy gave him an irked look. "Like I care, just give me that damn chips."

"Why don´t you walk here and take it for a change?" He replied swinging the bag back and forth out of her reach. Girl seemed to ignore him. "Oh come on kiddo, you know that you will have to move eventually. You will die of diabetes before you reach 30 if you continue like this…"

Girl frowned. "Oh fine… give me that" At the moment her body detached itself from couch the ear piercing alarm sounded all across the city.

The man looked around himself before he realized that he knew what that sound was. Fear suddenly struck every part of his body. "_Angel_…" He thought as he rushed before TV and sat near the girl. "Give me that damn remote." He yelled at the girl.

Girl raised an eyebrow. "I´ll trade it for chips…"

"This is not a joke; this is a fucking Angel alarm…." The man retorted almost yelling.

Color left her eyes and the color in her cheeks faded as she dropped the remote on the ground. Her body started to tremble. "_No…_"

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED: (Chapter 2: Gorefest or Encounter or Flames, I really can´t decide)**

* * *

**It deserves a review don´t you think… please… Ok so yeah this chapter was pretty much intro or setting or something. I usually tend not to go in OOC but I think these few changes were logical. I am planning to go through all the changes this chain of events had on every important character, so I will be handling a big set of characters. You probably noticed that already though… I am not satisfied with the lack of Shinji in this chapter… but bear with me…**

**You might have noticed that I killed Pen-Pen… please forgive me… it wasn´t meant to be…**

**Some stuff you might wonder about:**

**Eden** – I always wondered how to call a place Angels came from, so I decided that this wold fit.

** Keel is Kaworus donor, which can explain few things…**

**And yes I am not that good with physics but I checked everything if you are wondering, besides this is a fiction ffs :D**

**I do not intend to update this chapter regularly, I am doing this for fun, and since it made me awake at nights. But yeah don´t expect some sudden update or anything… well maybe if you would leave a nice review :) **

**So enough of my ramblings this shit is already 20000 words long… oh god it´s like my whole Wanderlust… which I am going to update soon… promise…**

**Anyway have a nice day reader.**

**Cotillon.**


End file.
